The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-03-27
FRANCES NEW RIFLE.
new ARMS AND PRoJECTIIES BASED
ON ADVANCED SCIENCE.
The Fate of Great Rattle. Generally de-
eided by the Efficiency of the In
fantry-The Franco-Germa War-Yhe
''Chalens Rife"


fantry-The Franco-German Wharf.-The
''ChaIons Rife"
The French army has been devotng its
energy 10 devising new arms and pro-
lectiies based upon the most advanced
science. The melinite shell has been
adopted for their artillery, and it is
claimed that the explosive force Of NELL
mite is 100 times greater than gunpowder
and tenfold as great as dynamite; that
neither masonry nor ironclad forts can
resist its force. The new progressive
powder, invented by Col Brugere Is
vastly more powerful than ordinary gun
powder; its popularity is that il burns
| without smoke, and almost without noise,
and developing its energy gradually while
the projeciile is moving through the bar
rel of the gun. the recoil is reduced TO a
minimum and il may lie better described
as push rather than shock.
The fate OF all great battles has almost
| invariably depended upon the efficiency Of
| the infantry. The Macedonian phalanx
of Alexander, the tenth legion of Caesar,
| the English infantry of the Black Prince.
/ the Spanish infantry Of Charles v, the
| grenadier guards Of Frederick the Great,
| the imperial guard of Napoleon, the Brit
| ish infantry of Give and Wellington, the
| s'Stonewau brigade of Jackson, the prus
| sian infantry of Germany-these have sue
! cessively been the great factors of victory.
/ Therefore the development Of infantry
| tactics and arms has always been the OBJ
| ject Of great generals. The substitution
| of the iron for the wooden ramrod by
| Frederick the Great made the Prussian in
| fantry able To fire more rapidly than their
! opponents, and win the victories which in
troduced Prussia as a military power.
| Napoleon, changing the principal of infan-
| try tactics from the volley fire to skirmish
| fire, revolutionized warfare, and laid
down the principle that the fire
and not the mass Of infantry was its
best work. Wellington, carrying out this
| idea. trusted TO the Thin red line''-in-
| fantry in line of battle and not in column;
vet In those days the infantry arm WAS the
smooth bore musket of very short range.
| Though the rifle was furnished to the
| flank companies Of regiments and to spe-
| ciul corps fifty years ago il was not until
| our own civil war that whole armies were
armed with rified muskets, the use Of
| which made the fate of heavy columns Of
attack against steady troops "A foregone
| conclusion; witness our attack on Marye :
heights at Fredericksburg and Pickett :
charge at Gettysburg The development
| Of infantry fire has in fact relegated the
| bayonet to the limbo of medieval pike
| and Roman swords, and has converted
cavalry into the eyes and ears of the
army rather than its mailed arm in the
decisive moment of battle.
y cavalry charge is magnificent, but
| il il not war the French Gen. BoS-
qt;et said of the charge of Balaklava.
! The cavalry saher has been driven from
! the battlefield by the revolver and rifle
in the Franco-German war, with SOOOt
| German cavalry and nearly as many
French cavalry, the hospital returns show
that there were only PIP wounds by
sabers and butts of mriskets, all told. A,
Sedan Il squadron of the hussars of the
French imperial guard charged the
German skirmish line at 400 yards distant
none of their bodies were found nearer
than 100 yards; three-fourths of the
squadron fell in galloping 800 yards
| Such was the terrible work of the breach
loading needle gun.
Once only was the column of attack
used in the franco-ierman war. In one
of the battles before Metz, Gen. Stein
metz formed the famous Brandenbure
brigade in column to pierce the French
lines. In spite of TIE bravery and dis
cipline of that picked corps, they were
ANONYMOUSLY routed, and Gen. Steinmetz
repriman6led for thus throwing away the
lives of splendid troops.
| If such were the conditions of battle in
1870, what must they he to-day, when TN.
rap,iity of infantry fire has been increased
leaders and the effective range of mill
tary rifles doubled by the use of ''proercs
sive" powder and improved projcctilss,
The French army is now armed with q
magazine rifle which possesses almost al
the above qualifcations-the '-ChalOn'
rifle" invented by Col. Lebel, superin
tendent of the infantry school at Chalons
| The range of the Chalons rife is unprece
dented At 1000 yards its effects are
| frightful; the ball leaves the rifle with
velocity of l, 800 feet second, and re
| wolves 1000 times second, its POINT
blank range is 500 yards. The caliber has
| been reduced to 322iG0ths of an inch
and the lead proiectile covered with {
thin coating of steel and brass, so that il
may take the ride grooves without leading
| them in the GUickpess OF revolution of the
| projectie in the barrel
| The Importance of infantry armed with
guns having a point blank range of 5Ot
| yards can hardly be overestimated; the
use of a smokeless powder removes one o
| the greatest difficulties to quick firing
rifles; the use of magazine guns, like the
Chalons rifle, makes it practically inipos
| sible for an enemy to cross the death
swept zone of 500 yards i'll front of them
| Boston Herald.